Jade
by Julie-Baka
Summary: Jade Perdita wants to be accepted in her new school, which is nearly impossible because she has a big fear of rejection. Jack Spicer is one of her classmates, though he didn't seem to notice her until it was found out that she was in possession of one of the Shen Gong Wu and Jack reluctantly lets her tag along with him. Could this be the start of a new friendship for Jade?
1. Chapter 1: Rough Start

Jade walked into her first class of the day, English. The classroom was average sized; the walls painted the same eggshell-white as they were at her old school and the floor in the classroom was the same blue-gray carpet.

A couple of the other students stared or whispered as she made her way to the back of the room, it didn't bother her too much, she was used to it. After all she was new, and it's just human nature to notice when something is new or different.

She sat down in one of the small wooden desks next to a rather pale, red-haired, boy. As she took out her binder she glanced over at the boy. He was hunched over a piece of paper which he seemed to be drawing little stick figures on. Jade leaned a little closer to trying to see a bit more, but as if he sensed her presence, he shifted so that she couldn't see.

Jade just turned back to her binder and started doodling on her own paper, ignoring the fact that the teacher had just walked in and started talking. As she carefully drew in the last few details of a rose she had drawn, she was barely aware the teacher was calling her name.

"Jade Perdita…Jade…could you please stand for the class?"

"Huh?" Jade said in almost a squeak as she looked up at the sound of her name. Everyone was staring at her and a few people giggled at her reaction.

"Could you please stand so the class can see who you are?" The teacher said in a kind voice.

"Oh! Okay." Jade said as she stood up.

"What is it that you were focusing so intensely on?" The teacher asked.

"J-Just a drawing…" Jade stammered in her small, shy, voice.

"Could you bring it here please?" The teacher said, her voice stayed kind but her face was stern.

"O-okay." Jade took the paper out of her binder and walked to the front of the room where she handed it over to the teacher. Her hands shook and she tried not to cry. Only her first day, and she was in trouble.

The teacher took the paper from Jade's shaking hands and looked at the beautifully sketched and shaded rose that was covering most of the paper.

"This is very beautiful Jade. But please refrain from drawing in class." The teacher said sternly. "Now this is your first day, and you aren't accustomed to the school rules yet, so I'll give this back to you and I hope in the future you are more responsible." She handed the drawing back to a terrified-looking Jade.

"Y-yes…I…I'm very sorry…" Jade squeaked as she took her paper back with shaking hands.

"You may return to your seat now." The teacher said sternly.

Jade just nodded and walked back to her seat, receiving snickers and stares from her fellow classmates, as the teacher turned and started to write notes on the board while continuing to talk.

Jade set the picture on top of her desk, pushed her binder aside, and proceeded face plant onto her desk , hard. Then she lifted her head off the desk but remand hunched over and staring at the picture that she drew, trying not to cry as a single tear escaped and landed onto her paper.

"Ha ha! You- huh?" The boy who was sitting next to Jade stopped mid-insult, noticing the tear that had fallen onto her paper. "Are you okay?"

Jade shook her head, causing a few more tears to land on her paper.

The boy, not knowing what to do and probably feeling a bit awkward, just continued taking notes and left Jade alone.

Jade went through the rest of the day feeling worthless and sad. She hoped her first day at her new school would be better, but she got in trouble in English, got the wrong answer multiple times to the equations in algebra, didn't know all 50 states in history, broke a beaker in chemistry, spilled a can of paint in art class, and messed up while singing in choir. It seemed that no matter where she went or what she did, she'd always be a loser.

As she walked home she stared at the ground. She had a long way to walk, but she didn't want to take the bus. She couldn't risk doing something stupid there too.


	2. Chapter 2: Possible Friendship

For the next few months Jade was the loser of the school. She still didn't have any friends, she was ignored half the time, and most days she had to walk home to spare herself the shame of doing something stupid on the bus ride home.

One day after school, Jade was hanging out at her house. Her parents were still at work and since she was an only child she was all alone. Even though she lived in a really good upper-class neighborhood, she still couldn't help but be scared of being alone in her house. After finishing her homework upstairs in her room, she decided to go downstairs to get a bag of chips and then go down to the basement to play video games.

As she grabbed a bag of sour cream and onion flavored potato chips and made her way to the basement door, she heard a loud thump and then a soft beeping noise from behind the door.

Jade was scared, but slowly opened the door to the dark basement. Jade could hear that the beeping got louder. Jade shook with fear. The only light came from the one small basement window. There was no way for her to see what was making that noise until she reached the bottom of the stairs where the light switch was.

She began to slowly step down the stairs. It seemed with every step she took, the beeping noise got louder and faster. Jade held the bag of chips as if it was a weapon that could protect her. As she reached the bottom of the stairs the beeping got even louder and faster. She saw a dark figure in front of her and a red light that blinked in time with the beep. With a shaking hand, Jade turned on the light and lunged at the figure, her eyes closed, screaming and flailing the bag of chips in front of her. She felt that she was hitting something multiple times. She felt the bag rupture and chips fly everywhere and kept her eyes shut tight to avoid getting crumbs in her eyes. Then she heard a voice.

"Ow! What are you doing!? Stop!"

Jade recognized the voice and opened her eyes to see the pale red-haired boy from her English class. He was protecting his face with one hand and had the object that was making a beeping noise in the other.

She stopped flailing the, now empty, bag of chips around and looked at him. He looked slightly different than he did at school. He was now wearing a long black jacket and goggles on his head, which were a bit lopsided from being hit repeatedly with a chip bag.

He straightened up and began brushing chips and crumbs off his hair and clothes, and straightening his goggles. Jade did the same and began looking around the room. The small basement window was opened, and there were chips all over the floor around him and her.

"So, why are you in my house?" Jade asked as she brushed chip-crumbs off her clothes.

"It's none of your business." The boy said as he started walking around the room, pointing the beeping object at different things.

"I think it is, since it's my house." Jade mumbled.

The boy walked towards Jade and the beeping thing got even louder and faster. Soon he was pointing the object at Jade from different angles as if there was something that was making the object beep.

"What are you doing?" Jade asked.

"Are you wearing anything magical?" The boy asked, avoiding Jade's question.

"Uh…if I am, then I don't know it." Jade replied, a bit confused by his question.

"Well, are you wearing any jewelry or maybe even some kind of new hair tie?" He asked, still pointing the object at Jade.

"Um…my hair tie is just the same black kind I always wear. I have a whole bag of them in my room." Jade replied. "And the only jewelry I ever wear is earrings, which I took off when I got home, and my necklace that I got in Hawaii last year."

She unclipped her necklace with a silver rose on it that had a white pearl in the middle and held it out for the boy to see. He pointed the beeping object at it and the loud beeping turned into a high-pitched whining noise.

"Bingo." The boy said as he reached out to grab the necklace.

Jade swiftly moved it way from him.

"You can have it," She said, "but only if you tell me why it's so important."

The boy tried to reach for it again, but Jade just blocked him with one arm and moved her other arm farther away.

"Fine…" He sighed. "It's one of these magical objects called Shen Gong Wu that are all over the world. They have special powers and can help me on my evil conquest for world domination, okay?"

"What does this one do?" Jade asked, obviously interested.

"Stuff, just give me it already." He whined.

"Can I help you find them?" Jade asked.

Suddenly there was a soft thump and the sound of voices outside of the small basement window.

"I think this is someone's house." A girl's voice said.

"Are you sure we're in the right place, Dojo?" A boy's voice asked.

The pale red-haired boy looked a bit worried.

"Please?" Jade asked in her small child-like voice.

"Fine." Jack said. "Is there a back door to your house?"

"Yeah." Jade said, still clutching the necklace in her hand. "It's just right up the stairs and to the left."

"Okay. Let's go." The boy grabbed her arm and led her up the stairs where they ran out the back door and into her rather large backyard. "Get on my back and hold on."

"What?" Jade asked.

"Just do it." Jack said.

Jade rapped her arms around his neck and held on tightly as rotating propellers came out of the metal backpack he was wearing and lifted them into the air.

Jade looked down and saw four people and a green thing near the front of her house. Jade's fear of heights kicked in and she clung tighter to the boy.

"Later losers!" The boy called to the people down below as him and Jade flew off.

They only flew a few blocks away from her house before they landed by a rather large mansion. Jade let go of the boy as soon as her feet touched the ground. She wobbled a bit before regaining her balance again, though she still shook.

"You alright?" The boy asked.

"Y-yeah." Jade replied in a shaky voice. "I-I'm just kinda afraid of heights."

"You'll get used to it." He said. "C'mon."

He led her into the large mansion and down some stairs to a basement that, to Jade, looked more like the lab of a mad scientist.

"Wow." Jade said under her breath. "What is this place?"

"It's my evil lair." The boy said proudly.

"You sure do like evil stuff." Jade said. "What's your name anyway?"

"I'm Jack Spicer, Evil Boy Genius!" Jack said triumphantly.

"Nice to finally know you name." Jade giggled. "I'm sure you don't remember, but I'm Jade." She suddenly remembered she was still holding the necklace in her hand. "Oh. Here." She handed the necklace to Jack. "I almost forgot."

"Thanks." Jack took the necklace and put it in his pocket.

"Hey, do you mind if I call my mom for a second to tell her where I am?" Jade asked. "If she finds out I left the house and didn't call her, she'll kill me."

"Uh, sure. Go ahead." Jack said.

Jade proceeded to take her cell phone out of her pocket and dial her mother's number. It rang a few times before going to the voicemail.

"Hey mommy, it's Jade." Jade said. "I just called to tell you I'm gonna be at a…friend's house for a…project. So um...I just didn't want to worry you. Okay, bye."

Jade pressed end and turned back to Jack, who was working on a robot.

"Can I see what that thing does now?" Jade asked.

"Maybe later." Jack said. "Hey, could you hand that wrench on the table behind you?"

"Okay." Jade turned around and grabbed the wrench.

She walked over to the table where Jack was working, handed it to him, and began watching.

"What are you making?" Jade asked.

"A Jackbot." Jack replied.

"Does it work?" Jade asked.

"Yes." Jack replied.

"What does it do?" Jade asked.

"What's with all the questions?" Jack asked.

"I don't know." Jade replied. "I just barely ever get to speak to anyone since I don't have any siblings or friends and my parents work all day."

"Wait, you don't have any friends?" Jack asked. "I thought you were just a loner by choice."

"Nope." Jade said. "It's just really hard for me to make friends. I mean, I used to have friend when I was in elementary school. In kindergarten I had a best friend named Katrina, but she stopped being my friend for some reason. Then in first grade I had a best friend named Sydney, but she moved away to North Carolina. In second grade I had a best friend name Sandra, but she really wasn't much of a friend…"

"Why?" Jack asked. He had stopped working on his robot and was listening as if he was a child being read a bedtime story.

"She was just really mean to me is all…I rather not get into it." Jade said. "But after she stopped being my friend, I started making up imaginary friends until I was about 13. That's when some new neighbors moved in. They were brothers, Max and Eddy. The Max was 12 and the Eddy was 9. Even though they were younger than me, they were my friends until they moved away last year. I had sort of a boyfriend named William last year. I met him at my dad's friend's son's birthday party, but he lived all the way on the other side of town and we could only email each other, so we decided not to actually date until I could drive, then he just stopped emailing me all together and deleted me from his friend list on our chat site. Then I moved here…but I'm glad I met you. You seem like a very trustable person, even if you are evil."

"Um...thanks." Jack said, slightly blushing.

"What about you?" Jade asked. "Do you have any friends?"

"Not really." Jack said. "I had some evil partners in the past, but they all left me. I guess you could call the Xiaolin Losers my friends. We have had some good times, but I hate them most of the time."

"Who?" Jade asked.

"The people you probably saw by your house." Jack answered.

"You mean the four people and the green thing?" Jade asked.

"Yeah." Jack replied.

"Oh." Jade said as she took her cell phone out of her pocket. It was about 7:30 PM. "I better start getting home. It's gonna get dark soon."

"Okay bye." Jack said as Jade began walking up the stairs of the basement.

"I'll see you later." Jade said as she left.


	3. Chapter 3: Past Rose Necklace

Jack was still curious about Jade's past. She seemed so sad when she talked, but she wouldn't tell him anymore. As he was lying on his bed in his pajamas, he got an idea.

He quickly grabbed the necklace that Jade had handed over to him, put it in the pocket of his robe, and ran outside. He stopped only for a second to remember where Jade lived, then made his way to her house.

When he got there he searched around the front trying to find the space in the bushes where the window to Jade's basement was. He quickly found it and peeked inside, and to his surprised, Jade had fallen asleep on the couch and the T.V. that showed a paused video game, cast just enough light to be able to see her clearly.

Jack took the necklace out of his pocket and held it out towards the basement window.

"Past Rose Necklace." He whispered.

Suddenly it was like he was watching a movie. He watched as a little girl about 4 sat at a tiny desk with another girl, coloring a picture of a pony.

Jack assumed that it was Jade.

Jade looked a lot different, her hair was up in pigtails that had a slight curl to the bottoms and she didn't have a purple streak. She was wearing a pink dress, white tights with colorful spots, and black dress shoes.

"Ponies are so pretty." Jade said.

"I like ponies too." The black-haired girl who was sitting next to Jade said.

"Hey Katrina, let's draw a life-size pony with our sparkle crayons." Jade said happily.

"Oh, so that's Katrina." Jack said.

"Okay, I'll go ask teacher for more paper." Katrina said as she ran off.

Suddenly the scene changed to a slightly older Jade walking around on the recess field. Her hair was still in pigtails, but the curls were gone and there was still no purple streak. She now wore a red shirt, a blue denim skirt, and white sneakers with Velcro and hearts on the sides.

Katrina walked by, talking to another girl.

"Hi Katrina!" Jade said.

Katrina just kept walking.

"Katrina?" Jade said. She began fallowing her. "Katrina, it's me. Jade."

Katrina glanced at Jade for a second but turned back to her friend and kept walking.

Jade stopped fallowing Katrina and just stood there with a hurt look on her face. It looked like she was about to cry. Jack hated to admit it, but she looked cute and helpless.

"Hi! Do you want to see the invisible baby dragons that live on the playground?" A hyper blond-haired girl said. "They're right over by the fence and their mom was hunted so now we have to build them nests!"

"Okay!" Jade said with a big smile on her face as she and the girl walked toward the fence at the end of the playground. "I'm Jade. What's your name?"

"I'm Sydney when I'm human, but when I'm a princess fairy my name is SparkleMoon and I have super powers that can help me defeat evil witches and I once saved a whole barn of horses that was on fire, but the horses stepped on my eyes and I had to get a magical potion to heal them, and I have and older sister who is a karate superstar but she fell asleep while fighting a bad guy and he thought she was dead so he buried her and then-" Sydney kept telling a story that seemed to go on forever.

Jack looked just as confused as little Jade did as Sydney rambled on and on. Then the scene changed again, to what seemed to be a party at someone's house that was ending.

Jade was sitting in the car and looking out the window at Sydney, who was watching a clown make balloon animals. A banner that hung off the side of the house read 'We'll miss you!'

Jade started crying as the car drove off and the scene changed again.

Once again, Jade looked slightly older. Her hair wasn't in pigtails anymore, it was just down, but there still wasn't a purple streak. She now was wearing a green shirt, blue shorts, and blue sneakers with little green flowers and lights on the side.

She was sitting next to a girl with short brown hair, and talking about dinosaurs.

They seemed to really be enjoying themselves.

"I think the T-Rex is the best dinosaur ever!" Jade said. "So I'm gonna write my story about it."

"So am I!" The short-haired girl said. "And in the story it'll be really smart and do all my homework for me."

"But Sandra, dinosaurs can't write." Jade said.

"Finally I get to see Sandra!" Jack yelled.

"Well, mine can!" Sandra said in a snobbish voice. "And it will also be able to fly and bake cookies for me whenever I want!"

"But T-Rex's can't fly." Jade said.

"You're just stupid!" Sandra said to a rather hurt looking, Jade. "Nobody knows what the dinosaurs did back then, so I can do what I want! You're just an idiot!"

"Sheesh. What a brat." Jack mumbled.

Suddenly scenes started flashing by really fast. Each one was just of Sandra spitting insults.

"Loser! Ugly! You're worthless! Can't you do anything right!? What's wrong with you!? Get over it! Stupid! Wimp! You're dumb!" The insults flashed by and Jack heard each insult that Jade had ended up receiving, some very similar to the ones Jack had heard other people call him.

"You're too stupid and ugly to be my friend!" Sandra yelled. "I'm not your friend anymore so just don't talk to me!" Then the scenes stopped.

It was quiet for a while, and then the scenes started up again.

Now Jade was much older. Her hair was still down, but the purple streak was there. She was wearing a black sweater, black jeans, and black shoes.

"Max! Eddy! C'mon!" She yelled as she ran through a trail that was located in a forest with a tall boy and a shorter boy. Both had black hair.

"We're coming, just slow down for a second!" The tall boy, Max, yelled.

"Yeah, don't run so fast!" The shorter boy, Eddy, yelled.

The scene changed, and Jade finally looked like she did now. She was staring out the window at a moving truck driving away. A few tears fell down her cheeks.

She grabbed the laptop that was next to her and began sending a chat message to someone.

The chat box read:

Jade: My friends moved away… :(

William: Aw, that sucks. :(

Jade: I wish I could drive right now… :( Then I could see you.

William: Me too. :(

Then the scene changed again.

Jade sat in the middle of an empty room with her laptop on her lap. She was just staring at a chat box that said: 'William has deleted Jade from his/her friend list.'

She closed the laptop and walked out of her room, walked out of the house, got into a car that was full of cardboard boxes, and drove away.

Then everything went dark, and before he knew it, Jack was back in front of the basement window. He was suddenly aware of a beeping noise coming from inside his other robe pocket. Another Shen Gong Wu had activated.


	4. Chapter 4: Sneaking Out

Jade had fallen asleep on the basement couch while playing video games and awoke to the sound of someone knocking on the basement window.

She sat up; her neck was a bit stiff from sleeping on the couch. She stretched and her neck popped a couple times, making it feel a bit better. She had taken out her hair tie, so her hair was down and a little messy. She was wearing pajamas that had black pants with white skulls; the shirt was a tank top that was white with the black outline of a skull.

Jade looked at the window and saw Jack was looking in. The window was up much higher than she could reach so she had to grab a chair. She walked over to the tiny window, stood on top of the chair, and opened it.

"What are you doing here?" Jade asked. She glanced over at the clock on the cable box. "It's 1 in the morning."

"I know, but a Shen Gong Wu just activated." Jack said.

"Right now?" Jade asked. "But I'm in my pajamas…and so are you."

"Hey, you said you wanted to come along." Jack shrugged.

"Okay." Jade yawned. "Just help me climb through the window. My parents will hear me if I go out through the door."

Jack grabbed one of Jades hands and Jade pushed herself up and out of the window with the other.

"How are we gonna get there?" Jade asked. "You don't have your backpack thing."

"Just c'mon!" He said as he grabbed onto Jade's arm and started running in the direction of his house.

By the time they got there, Jade was struggling to catch her breath.

"My...feet...hurt…" She said in between gasps. "I…should've…grabbed…some shoes…"

Jack ignored her and continued to drag her to a rather large almost rocket-type thing.

"Get in." Jack said as he got in the driver seat.

Jade obeyed and got in the passenger seat and they flew off.


End file.
